Child of Another Time
by WittyWallflower
Summary: The ARC team is surprised when a child comes through an anomaly. Nick Cutter's child. (s3, not quite AU)


The team came running as the Anomaly Detection Device blared its alarm. Connor triangulated the location then sputtered with astonished confusion.

"But that's right on top of us!" He met the stares of the others "Its here, in the ARC!"

"Well" drawled James Lester, head of the ARC. He appeared to have lost interest. "that should make containment quite a bit simpler. Keep any creatures away from my office and alert me when the situation is in hand."

As Lester returned to his office, Becker armed the team with tranq guns and shouldered the case with the Anomaly Locking Mechanism. Grabbing his hand-held ADD, Connor led the charge as they searched the building and found the anomaly sparkling silently in the lounge.

Before it on the floor sat a child, no more than 10 or 12 years of age, sobbing softly. Becker keyed his radio.

"Get Lester down here. Now."

—

The team listened to the child's told an unbelievable, and chilling tail. Born to parents who had been stranded far in the past, the family had returned when the anomaly finally reopened, only to find the future altered in their absence. They had been too far out of their natural time-line to be affected by changes to it, but everything they knew had been altered, the world overrun by fearsome predators.

"Mother wanted to go back. The past was dangerous but at least we understood it. But my father had to find out what happened. He says we always have to look for the truth." So they had stayed in the desolate future, fighting for their lives as they searched. But they had found little. "Dad was fixated on one name though, "Helen". I think he thought it was her fault."

The adults sat up and exchanged glances. Sarah rubbed the child's back comfortingly and asked, "Helen? Would that be Helen Cutter?"

"No!" the kid looked up for the first time and they saw underneath the layers of gray clothing and the grime of an apocalyptic future that is was a young girl. "Cutter is my dad's name! Nick Cutter. Mine too. I'm Connie. I don't know who Helen is, they never talked about her in front of me. I think Mum hated her though." Connor nearly fell out of his chair when he heard Nick's name but Sarah continued gently questioning.

"Who's your mum then?"

"Mum's name is Claudia. I'd gotta get back soon, she'll wallop me for sure, I've been gone so long. I didn't mean to go through the anomaly, really!" The child looked worried, shifting glances over her shoulder towards the anomaly. "Dad's always terrified one will close and separate us."

That was all Connor could take and he retreated to far side of the room. Sarah engaged the girl while the rest of the team clustered around him.

"Its a plot of Helen's," Becker glowered. "How could she think we'd believe that is the child of the man she killed?"

They debated the potential threat but, devious as Helen was, they couldn't imagine any damage could be caused by one adolescent.

"What if its true?" Connor was the first to suggest.

"Connor?" Abby wasn't surprised Connor would entertain the idea. He missed Cutter fiercely, had been sullen and withdrawn since the funeral. But an idea as silly as this…

He'd always felt that Claudia Brown was a secret he had to keep for his mentor. "Cutter never stopped believing in Claudia Brown. You didn't hear him talk about her, Abby. The man didn't fall in love with something out of his imagination! He was _convinced_ she was real. What if she was? What if something changed? What if he came back and things were different, like things were different for her parents?" He gestured to the girl talking quietly with Sarah.

"But if that's the case, Claudia Brown disappeared before Jenny came to the ARC. How could she have been in the future having children with Nick?"

"I don't know, alternate time-lines, other dimensions! I don't have the answers to everything!" Connor tried to swallow his exasperation. He couldn't help but wish Cutter were here. Nick always had a way to explain things. "They were outside of the time-line when it was effected. Like Nick. He was gone when Claudia disappeared, he wasn't in our time-line. So when he came back he was the only one to notice the change."

"I think that's grasping at straws, Connor." Becker was grim and no-nonsense. "The simplest explanation is usually the correct one and the only other person who could have told the girl about Claudia Brown is Helen. We can't allow her to infiltrate the facility."

"But what if she is who she says she is? Cutter could be alive somewhere!" Connor paced, staring at the anomaly. His voice was choked with emotion. He knew how crazy it sounded, but they faced stranger circumstances ever day. If any crazy thing could be true, why couldn't it be something that bring his best friend, his mentor, back to him? "I could walk through and he might be there!"

"Connor, no!" Abby placed a hand on his arm, afraid what might happen if they let him charge off into the unknown.

"Or Helen might be there. Or a Predator. We have no idea whats on the other side."

Abby joined Becker in refusing to let anyone pass through the anomaly. They had no reliable intelligence on what was on the other side. It was too big of a risk.

"So what do we do?"

The team was silent as they considered it. In the end Becker wouldn't tolerate any potential threat remaining in the facility. Connor tried to argue but it occurred him that it wasn't wise to risk the child running into Jenny Lewis who, by Cutter report, WAS Claudia Brown. Fearing to upset both the girl and Jenny with such a traumatic and confusing scene, Connor finally subsided and the team agreed the only course was let the girl back through the anomaly. Once it was locked behind her, Becker would breathe easy knowing the ARC, and his team, was safe. From creatures and from Helen.

—

They loaded the young girl up with supplies to take back with her. Since she was going forward, they needn't worry about the continuity of the time-line. Any technology would be worthless in the future, but food and medicine were needed in any time. Becker reluctantly released a firearm and a few spare rounds, squatting next to her for moment for a short crash course in handling the weapon and changing the clip when it was empty.

Before she stepped back through Connor knelt before the girl. Her eyes were the same color as Nick's, had the same calm, observant gaze.

"Tell Nick…" Connor's jaw worked as he tried to swallow his emotions. There were so many things he hadn't gotten a chance to say to Cutter. But her father wasn't his Cutter. He'd lived over a decade of events Connor hadn't experienced. Roughed it in the past and lived among dinosaurs. He wouldn't be the same person who had taken Connor under his wing. "Never mind…doesn't matter."

—

The girl stumbled through into her own time. Hefting the duffel bag she'd got from the nice people, she ran to find her parents. Nick and Claudia had been searching for an hour, fearing the worst. They hadn't discovered the anomaly she had wandered into and would have lit into her for the foolishly of going through if not for the wild story she told and the evidence she lugged with her.

As his daughter described her adventures and the people she met, Nick recognized his former colleagues. His friends. The last time he'd seen most of them had been the day he and Claudia had been lost. Trapped in another time, pursuing Helen and the artifact, when the anomaly closed and left them there. The whole team had been there that day, on guard on their side of the anomaly. Everyone except for Connor.

Years ago, when Helen had invaded the ARC and pulled a gun on Nick, intent on changing the very history of humanity, his faithful student had thrown himself at his mentor. He had taken the bullet meant for Cutter. Helen had escaped while Connor died in his arms; Nick had carried Connor's body out of the burning building himself. Claudia met Nick eye's over the their daughter's head They had named the girl in honor of the brave young man who had given his life for Cutter.


End file.
